Cherries Jubilee
by BelleMorte79
Summary: A musing on what happens directly after the events of the film Jackie Brown, by Quentin Tarantino, based on the book Rum Punch by Elmore Leonard.


**Cherries Jubilee**

* * *

Inglewood

Inside a small, store-front office in Inglewood California, a middle aged, slightly balding white man sits behind a large square desk. Max Cherry is fifty-five years old, and owns this small, nondescript storefront. He's a bail bondsman. He's been doing it for years. He's seen a lot of trouble, and his eyes tell a story of too much work and too little sleep. Max has tan skin, from the California sun, and his thinning, jet black dyed hair gives the impression of recently having had hair plugs. He's a sort of everyday man, who does more than the everyday man. Just today, he had to sneak into someone's apartment, and ambush them with a stun gun, handcuff them, and drag them out of their apartment like a trapped animal to haul them off to jail. He doesn't look like the type. His office is littered with paperwork, and on the wall, there are pictures of him, and his partner, a tall, muscular black man, Winston, who he has worked with for years. The wall is adorned with various pictures of them. Max is wearing a grey button down shirt, and black casual slacks. He has the top button of his collar unbuttoned. He doesn't smoke anymore, but there's an ashtray on his desk, out of force of habit. The windows outside of his storefront are emblazoned with the words Cherry Bail Bonds in large gold text. The only two people in the office are Max and Winston. Winston is currently on a phone call with someone.

Max has had an exciting few weeks. All of it began when one woman walked into his life, Jackie. His life had been uncomplicated. But she brought in layers and layers of complication. One sunny day, a man walked into his office wanting to put up a bond for ten thousand dollars. _Ten thousand dollars. _Ten thousand dollars for someone whose last name he didn't even know. The man that walked in was wiry, and a fast talker. He was a thin, tall, brown skinned black man, with a reddish brown pony tail,, pulled tight behind his head. He wore designer clothes and flashy jewelry, and he had his beard braided in a long pointy braid. He was hard to miss and hard to forget. _Ordell Robbie. _Ordell wanted to place a bond for Beaumont Livingston, only he didn't know Beaumont's last name. It didn't make no never mind to Max, _whatever Ordell was doing, he was getting away with it_, _and it was none of his business._ He put up the bond. He paid his thousand dollars down, and out he went. Max didn't think anything else about it. That is, until Ordell came back not too long after that wanting to flip the money over to another bond...for none other than Miss Jackie Brown.

He went to pick up Jackie from County. She walked out with her heels in her hand, her white uniform shirt untucked, and her brownish red hair falling around her shoulders. The light framed her silhouette and it seemed to Max that he heard music as she walked towards him. He didn't know what to expect, but he didn't expect her.

Early in the evening, Max drove his powder blue Seville to the county jail, and waited for Jackie to emerge from county, after dropping off Miss Lopez. She had almond shaped dark brown eyes, long, reddish brown hair, and a slim, shapely figure. She looked young for being in her forties. He offered her his card, and told her his name. From then on, he was bewitched.

She seemed scared when she entered his car. She asked him, "Are you really a bail bondsman?"

She seemed to feel like she was in danger, and knowing what happened to Beamount, she had good reason to be afraid.

She asked who put up her bond, and when Max let her know that it'd been Ordell, she looked straight ahead into the dark of night, saying nothing. The silence sat in between them like an old friend, and Max could tell that Jackie was very much afraid, but her face also showed strength and determination. She seemed to be thinking, forming some kind of plan.

Max, laughed to himself. _Yes, it was some kind of plan. _He thought back to the sweet sound of her voice on his answering machine, and the words she said to him, "_I can do this, Max, I know I can. But I can't do it without you."_

A song came on the radio in the office, and it brought the memory of the first time that he ever saw Jackie flooding right back to him:

_Why do I keep my mind on you all the time?_

_And I don't even know you (I don't know you)_

_Why do I feel this way thinking about you every day?_

_And I don't even know you (I don't know you)_

Max opens his desk drawer and pulls out a postcard. It's addressed to him at his business address. It says simply, "Wish you were here, Jackie." and is postmarked from Madrid.

Madrid

The sky outside the windows is as bright blue as a Robin's egg. Jackie has a glass of wine in her hand, and she is contemplating her reflection in the mirror. She has the radio playing in the hotel room, as she gets ready for a night out in Madrid. Jackie has pulled her thick, auburn hair into a ponytail. The back of her ponytail she has curled into thick, loose ringlets. She takes a sip of her wine, putting it down on the corner of the sink, and begins to slick down her eyebrows with hair gel. She looks into the mirror and applies a slick of cherry flavored lip gloss to her lips, pouting at her reflection, before taking another sip of wine. Her caramel brown skin has a golden glow to it, the Spanish sun has given her a sun kissed look. She sits down on the rim of the tub to apply lotion to her legs, and her thoughts wander again. She thinks wistfully about Max. _What was Max Cherry doing right now? _She wanted him to come to Spain, but for some reason, something kept him in Inglewood. Jackie is forty-five years old, slim, attractive, and alone- a black woman, in her mid forties, travelling in Spain, and she fully intends to enjoy herself. She is wearing a bright blue mini-dress, and slingback sandals. She tucks a pair of shades into her top, the tops of the handle just peeking out near her bosom. She begins to ready herself for a night out, and to visit a small cafe for a few tapas and some wine in a cafe. She was travelling alone, and although she had enough money to do whatever she wanted, she still found herself idle from time to time. She would pick up another postcard, and send a message to Max. "_Maybe he has finally realized that he needs to slow down," _she thought to herself.

She gathered up her purse, and her hotel key, and began to walk down to the lobby. In the lobby, there was a small gift shop. She would look through the post cards, and find something beautiful to send to Max. She found a postcard of the Plaza Mayor, at sunset, lit softly by street lights, with pedestrians walking through the square. She grabbed it and brought it over to the cashier, to check out. She wrote a quick message to Max and addressed it to his business address. It said simply "Wish you were here, Jackie."

The last time that she had seen Max, she had tried to get him to take more of the money. They had, together, stolen nearly half a million dollars, and Max only took his ten percent fee. He deserved so much more. She couldn't have done it without him. She might not even be alive without him. She had thought that they had a special connection, but maybe Max was afraid of her.

Jackie pushed the postcard into her purse, and began to walk out onto the small plaza outside her hotel. As she walked along the smallish square, she remembered the day she walked out of Cherry Bail Bond, to climb into Ordell's black Mercedes, and drive into the sunset, and Max kissed her gently on her lips. If she closed her eyes she could feel it, and then maybe….just maybe she wouldn't feel so alone.


End file.
